Hard to see any progress for the forseeable future

[melonhead]

i assume you must mean largely wrong

[Ian Royal]

so mid-table mediocrity with supporting Reading being dull and uninspiring is largely right with:

1/2 season of relegation fear
1/2 season of play off hope because of a charge up the table
QF of FA cup for the second time ever
5th and a Play off final because of a spectacular run of form
QF of the FA cup for the third time ever
currently pushing for another play off finish.

If that's dull and uninspiring mid-table mediocrity I want to keep with it, because anything exciting and inspiring is likely to cause my heart to explode. The style of football's a bit crap, but you can't have everything.

[Maguire]

i assume you must mean largely wrong

Nah, as predictions go he's been pretty much on the money.

Bit out here and there but the general gist is one of truth. I'd like to give Schards some credit here for staying strong when others would've faltered in the face opf the stick that's been dished out.

[melonhead]

so mid-table mediocrity with supporting Reading being dull and uninspiring is largely right with:

1/2 season of relegation fear
1/2 season of play off hope because of a charge up the table
QF of FA cup for the second time ever
4th and a Play off final because of a spectacular run of form
QF of the FA cup for the third time ever
currently pushing for another play off finish.

If that's dull and uninspiring mid-table mediocrity I want to keep with it, because anything exciting and inspiring is likely to cause my heart to explode. The style of football's a bit crap, but you can't have everything.

agreed

[Wimb]

I think the point I was making was that the club didn't really make any progress. We had some excitement sure, but aside from the euphoria of escaping the relegation worries of the Rodgers days and individual moments of joy in the cups/play-offs, we weren't moving forward as a club, only backward as Brian himself admitted.

I say this as a massive RTG btw, who pretty much agreed with the vast majority of decisions made since relegation, I'm not saying it was anyone's fault, it was just the position the club found themselves in.

[Ian Royal]

I still dispute we were moving backwards. We weren't forging forwards by any stretch of the imagination, but I still think we were treading water fine, which is still pretty good as things go for the club. Maybe in another season or two we would have gone backwards. But lets face it, prior to the proposed takeover there was no indication of any sort of slide into total obscurity at this level, even two and a half years after Coppell left and this "sea change" that was apparently needed to avoid mediocrity. Maybe we weren't in a lot of danger of actually managing to go back up, but I didn't see a lot to say that we wouldn't continue to press the edges of the play offs at least.

No doubt if this take over is what we hope we'll be able to try and take bug steps forward, I agree.

[melonhead]

I think the point I was making was that the club didn't really make any progress. We had some excitement sure, but aside from the euphoria of escaping the relegation worries of the Rodgers days and individual moments of joy in the cups/play-offs, we weren't moving forward as a club, only backward as Brian himself admitted.

I say this as a massive RTG btw, who pretty much agreed with the vast majority of decisions made since relegation, I'm not saying it was anyone's fault, it was just the position the club found themselves in.

hard to progress while dealing with relegation from the prem imo
but we managed it, since we are infinitely better than since coppell left/rodgers arrived
and have managed progress every season since-despite losing our best player two years in a row

[Wimb]

I think the point I was making was that the club didn't really make any progress. We had some excitement sure, but aside from the euphoria of escaping the relegation worries of the Rodgers days and individual moments of joy in the cups/play-offs, we weren't moving forward as a club, only backward as Brian himself admitted.

I say this as a massive RTG btw, who pretty much agreed with the vast majority of decisions made since relegation, I'm not saying it was anyone's fault, it was just the position the club found themselves in.

hard to progress while dealing with relegation from the prem imo
but we managed it, since we are infinitely better than since coppell left/rodgers arrived
and have managed progress every season since-despite losing our best player two years in a row

Fair play Brend but wasn't that Schard's point in the first place considering it was written while Coppell was still at the club and the team in the promotion mix up? I think if you're asking if we've progressed since Brian took over from Brendan than you're right but we're at best level with where we were when the OP was written IMHO.

[melonhead]

its very easy to predict that straight after relegation from the prem there will be no forward progress. thats undeniable for most teams. we gave it our best shot- but ran out of steam at the crucial moment.

the forseeable future encompasses much more than a season or two though.
and since rodgers left theres been nothing but progress, even if its been in two steps forward 1 step back mode.


not that im criticising- schards can think and say what he likes- and doesnt need or want my approval

i just thinkl its more indicative of a man falling out of love with football itself, and getting a bit old and boring/having bigger and better priorities, rather than anything about the club itself.

if its just the club, then saying all this after he started supporting the club when we were unadulterated dogshit, playing in a shed, in the deep dark depths of the lower divisions, seems very very odd indeed, and more like the reaction of a spoilt child than a grown man.
which is why i dont believe it can be about just this club.

[Royal With Cheese]

i assume you must mean largely wrong

Nah, as predictions go he's been pretty much on the money.

Bit out here and there but the general gist is one of truth. I'd like to give Schards some credit here for staying strong when others would've faltered in the face opf the stick that's been dished out.

Are you sure about that?

I remember quite a bit of backtracking when we looked shoe-ins for promotion at Christmas that year. "Forseeable future" turned into "the next 10 years"!

Agree with Melon and Ian - more good times than bad. More excitement than boredom. Schards more wrong than right (although I did, and still do, have a certain amount of empathy with the original post)

[Royal With Cheese]

its very easy to predict that straight after relegation from the prem there will be no forward progress. thats undeniable for most teams. we gave it our best shot- but ran out of steam at the crucial moment.

the forseeable future encompasses much more than a season or two though.
and since rodgers left theres been nothing but progress, even if its been in two steps forward 1 step back mode.


not that im criticising- schards can think and say what he likes- and doesnt need or want my approval

i just thinkl its more indicative of a man falling out of love with football itself, and getting a bit old and boring/having bigger and better priorities, rather than anything about the club itself.

if its just the club, then saying all this after he started supporting the club when we were unadulterated dogshit, playing in a shed, in the deep dark depths of the lower divisions, seems very very odd indeed, and more like the reaction of a spoilt child than a grown man.
which is why i dont believe it can be about just this club.

That's a pretty good post the Meloners.

[chilipepper91]

its very easy to predict that straight after relegation from the prem there will be no forward progress. thats undeniable for most teams. we gave it our best shot- but ran out of steam at the crucial moment.

the forseeable future encompasses much more than a season or two though.
and since rodgers left theres been nothing but progress, even if its been in two steps forward 1 step back mode.


not that im criticising- schards can think and say what he likes- and doesnt need or want my approval

i just thinkl its more indicative of a man falling out of love with football itself, and getting a bit old and boring/having bigger and better priorities, rather than anything about the club itself.

if its just the club, then saying all this after he started supporting the club when we were unadulterated dogshit, playing in a shed, in the deep dark depths of the lower divisions, seems very very odd indeed, and more like the reaction of a spoilt child than a grown man.
which is why i dont believe it can be about just this club.

That's a pretty good post the Meloners.

I agree

*no Hiram-o*

[FiNeRaIn]

Schards was right, it was incredibly hard to see any progress and we've had none, why are people disputing? Progress would have meant bettering coppells last league placing.

[Royal Rother]

Opening & closing statements were:

I think we need to get used to mid table championship football at the very best until there is a sea change at this club.

Can't see either [Coppell or Madejski] leaving anytime soon so supporting Reading's going to be a whole lot duller and uninspiring than in recent years

It's been far better than mid-table.

Coppell left shortly afterwards.

Madejski has found a buyer.

I suspect I've had a far better time putting my attendances into Stag Meadow rather than the Mad Stad but nonetheless, Schards post at the time read as emotional and reactionary rubbish and it still reads that way today.

[Maguire]

i assume you must mean largely wrong

Nah, as predictions go he's been pretty much on the money.

Bit out here and there but the general gist is one of truth. I'd like to give Schards some credit here for staying strong when others would've faltered in the face opf the stick that's been dished out.

Are you sure about that?

Nope, it's not like i've read even 70% of the thread tbh

I just dont' think you can analyse these rants word for word, completely literally as he's making a general point. And if you're going to start a thread then you have to go balls in or not at all.

If you take the basic gist as "no progress until we get a new owner" then he's right. We are still stuck in the Championship and we were still selling our best players. Cup quarters finals are nothing more than a fun day out, a sideshow to the serious business of moving the club forward.

Madejski - clearly, his heart is not in it to the extent it was previously. He would love to sell out but can't find a buyer. He will keep the club sound and stable but has no intention of investing further funds or trying to push the club forwards.

100% correct

Coppell - if the spirit of the championship had survived, he would definately have been the right man for the job, but it hasn't. The chairman is not fully behind it anymore, many players have left to pursue their own self interest and many still here would like to leave. The golden team has long gone and we have to move on and build a new team. Coppell doesn't, IMHO, have the hunger to do this.

Correct

there are some on here who would happily see us drift downwards whilst improving/maintaining our balance sheet in the belief that the rest of football will meltdown around us and we will emerge as one of the last men standing

Correct

Much as I admire and appreciete what Madejski has done, I don't see how the club can go forward with him at the helm and would now like to see someone new who wants to move things forward

Agreed, and surely people can see we are better equipped to challenge for promotion now (in the short term at least) than we would have been if we'd retained the status quo?

[FiNeRaIn]

agreed, mainly correct calls there.

[melonhead]

its very easy to predict that straight after relegation from the prem there will be no forward progress. thats undeniable for most teams. we gave it our best shot- but ran out of steam at the crucial moment.

the forseeable future encompasses much more than a season or two though.
and since rodgers left theres been nothing but progress, even if its been in two steps forward 1 step back mode.


not that im criticising- schards can think and say what he likes- and doesnt need or want my approval

i just thinkl its more indicative of a man falling out of love with football itself, and getting a bit old and boring/having bigger and better priorities, rather than anything about the club itself.

if its just the club, then saying all this after he started supporting the club when we were unadulterated dogshit, playing in a shed, in the deep dark depths of the lower divisions, seems very very odd indeed, and more like the reaction of a spoilt child than a grown man.
which is why i dont believe it can be about just this club.

That's a pretty good post the Meloners.

i can do the odd one now and again, if i squeeze my brain, really really hard, til it hurts

[melonhead]

Schards was right, it was incredibly hard to see any progress and we've had none, why are people disputing? Progress would have meant bettering coppells last league placing.

[Royal With Cheese]

That really wasn't the point I was making Mags. You specifically cited his "staying strong in the face of the stick he got" and I disagreed with that - with my interpretation of events.

I agreed with most of his overview - my objection was to the "dull and unispiring" part - especially as at the time he made it we were on a roller coaster ride to the top two.

The recent history of Reading could have been so different - only small events (or as much as 30 minutes of a single game in a 46 game season - a miniscule percentage) turning our season into (relative) failure instead of sucess. Its that point sticks with me more than anything.

[Royal With Cheese]

Schards was right, it was incredibly hard to see any progress and we've had none, why are people disputing? Progress would have meant bettering coppells last league placing.

Nice literall interpretation there!

(TBF - he has a point!)